RWBY: The Great War
by sgtSkirata
Summary: Told from the comical perspectives of Oobleck's class, join the gangs quest to learn of the most influential team of Hunters of the Great War. Meet Team WHAB (The Woodsman, The Huntsman, Adam Aka The Beast, and Bear) the team that brought an end to the a war that fought to take away the very element of expression.


Prologue: Another Day Another Lecture

"Chop chop. We have 10 chapters of history to review and only an hour to do it. Everyone take your seats. We're a little low on space with three periods here today. Please try and get along and don't be afraid to sit on the steps and table tops if you have to." Bartholomew said high on caffeine. Everyone had been studying hard for the upcoming midterm but no one could honestly say they were ready. Even Weiss had her doubts.

Weiss was flipping through her notes like a mad woman as the rest of the students looked for a seat next to their friends.

"Let's see here, the Telos tribe settled south as the Atlantis tribe moved north but then the Braziers went east and the Ellen sailed west. So where in the world did the Forbes tribe go?!" Weiss demanded of her textbook.

"I wouldn't stress out about it Weiss. We didn't talk about the tribes in class much." Blake tried to explain.

"I still don't understand why St. Blanc left the order or why she was there in the first place!"

"St. Who?" Yang asked.

"Doesn't blanc mean white?" Ruby asked.

"Well that's a stupid name," Yang commented.

"My name means white in Atlesian, have a problem with that?" Weiss complained.

"People name their kids after color as a statement. Problem is I've never thought of the color white as a color. It's more like nothing to me." Yang teased.

"Well what about Black?" Weiss demanded thinking of Blake.

"Black is cool and mysterious. White on the other hand is just kind of there." Yang explained

"You southerners just don't understand the importance of the color white," Weiss stated being proud of her home country of Atlas and what it could become.

"Hey Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Yes, Ruby." Weiss asked having devoted her attention to her textbook.

"I'm really lost."

"What do you mean, in history? We've been studying together for a week straight. I must have made twenty pots of coffee the past few days." In Weiss' mind, coffee was the key to success.

"I thought I understood then, but I have no idea what all this stuff you're talking about is." Ruby had been working hard. Aside from being a great leader, it was her goal to show Weiss that she wasn't a slacker.

"Don't worry Ruby," Blake assured her. "Weiss is obviously nervous too. We only covered the first tribes that one day, about a month ago. I'm sure most the test will be about the Great War."

"That's what he wants you all to think!" Weiss hissed. "Last night I visited the upperclassmen dorms to ask some of the girls about Bartholomew's testing habits. Turns out his tests have the strangest questions."

"I have a lot of upper classmen friends," Yang mentioned. "I've only heard good things about the professor. Coco seemed to love his lectures and she's not even the good student type."

"I imagine your other friends are as carefree as Coco and you. I bet they don't even care about the horrific concept of getting a B."

"Uhm yeah, because they're not crazy," Yang mumbled.

"B's are a curse made by the forces of despair. They're worse than the Grim! They're meant to make you feel comfortable. You think they're a cushion for mistakes but they're the scourges of academics."

"You sound like a conspiracy theorist Weiss," Yang argued. "It's just a letter."

"Conspiracies aren't conspiracies if everyone knows about them, Yang. Bartholomew has a reputation for being ruthless."

"Greetings allies," said Pyrrha as she sat in one of the seats behind the team. The Lecture would be stating soon and she doubted she would get a seat up front with her team.

"Pyrrha, tell them, you were there!" Weiss shouted. "The seniors said Bartholomew is insane didn't they?!"

"Uhh?" Pyrrha wondered if she and Weiss had talked to the same people. "They did say that he puts a few hard questions in the mix to challenge you but hardly anything horri..."

"See Yang, Proof! The man is a maniac!"

"He's crazy because he puts a few trick questions?"

"Not crazy, I said Maniac."

"Blake, Pyrrha," Yang pleaded. "Tell her she's crazy."

"You might be a little stressed," Pyrrha replied kindly.

"Weiss, you're crazy." Blake answered earning a giggle from Yang and a snort from Ruby. Blake was always quiet but whenever it came to teasing Weiss she was more than willing to participate.

"You'll all see. When the test scores come in and you all have B's, or dare I say lower, you'll all know that your friend Weiss tried to warn you."

"Say what about what now?" said the carefree voice of a fashionable blue haired boy as he took the seat Weiss had been saving for him.

"Oh nothing Neptune I was just telling the girls how they shouldn't worry about the test so much." She said with a twinkle in her eye trying to seem composed.

"You two are so fake it's disgusting," Yang commented ignoring the wink and frown Neptune and Weiss gave her respectively.

At that moment Oobleck blew into his high pitched safari whistle to get everyone's attention.

"Before I start my review does anyone have questions of their own?" Bartholomew asked.

"Sir?" Weiss yelled out holding her hand up as high as she could. The whole room looked at her oddly.

"Oh my gosh you're embarrassing," Yang sighed burying her face in her hands.

"Yes Ms. Schnee."

"Why did St. Blanc leave the hunters order?"

"No one knows, next?" He said. Bartholomew was to the point as usual. He wanted to answer any questions as quickly as he could to get to his lecture.

"Sir?!" Weiss asked again.

"Yes Ms. Schnee?"

"Where did the lost tribe of Forbes go?"

"No one knows. That's why their lost, next?"

"Mr. Ooble..!"

"It's Professor or Doctor Ms. Schnee! Excuse me but does anyone have questions that are actually on the test?" Bartholomew asked ignoring Weiss. "This test is focused on the Great war so I'd like to focus our discussion on that."

Blake had a smug look on her face that spelled out, _I told you so,_ to Weiss while the others giggled as she wrinkled her nose.

"I have a question sir!" called out Nora sitting up front with Ren and Jaune.

"Go ahead Miss Valkyrie."

"What do jellied apples taste like?" She asked curiously.

"Have you ever had apples?" The professor asked a bit confused.

"Yeah!"

"Have you ever had Jelly?"

"Oh Yeah?"

"Then Imagine," he replied with a sigh.

"That sounds tasty!" Nora stated joyfully while Ren buried his head in his notes, embarrassed.

"Miss Valkyrie, I have to ask. Where did that question come from?" Bartholomew asked a bit worried for the sanity of his student.

"Well, the other day we were talking about the battle of Patchy."

"Patch Sea," The professor corrected.

"Yeah that thing! Anyways you mentioned that both sides had to stop at ports to get fruit to jelly."

"Correct!" He mused realizing they were on topic now. "Do you know why they had to Jelly their food?"

"Cus it was tasty!" Nora stated with a grin.

"No doubt, but it was because they were low on food. The battle of Patch Sea was fought for 4 months and both sides were reaching the ends of their food supplies. The Valisien rebels set anchor right here in Vale and bought all the fruit the orchards had to offer. They had enough food to last the remaining two months of the battle but it would surely go bad within a few weeks. By jellying the fruit and putting it in jars they were able to keep a steady ration." Bartholomew couldn't help but notice that Cardin was ignoring him and playing with his Scroll. He quickly zipped behind the boy to look over his shoulder. "Age of Kingdoms II?"

"Waa!?" Cardin was shocked to see the professor right behind him.

"I see you've conquered half the known world Cardin," Bartholomew sarcastically praised his student, ashamed to see that he was playing video games in class when his grades were so embarrassingly low all of a sudden. "Since you're such a great commander can you enlighten the class on what tactic Admiral Cimon used to win the battle of Patch?"

"Brute force," Cardin replied crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair before Bartholomew quickly zoomed away with his scroll. "Hey! That thing cost a lot of Lein."

"You can have it back at the end of the review session. Back to the subject, brute force almost never works in an even fight," he stated looking at the settings of Cardin's game wondering how someone like him would be able to excel in such a genre. "Oh, it seems like the tactic serves very well when you're playing on Novice Difficulty."

Jaune and some of the other students snickered.

"Mr. Arch," Bartholomew said scaring Jaune. "Can you tell me what tactic Cimon used?"

"Uhm?" Jaune mumbled unsure of himself.

"Need some help?" Ren whispered.

"No I'm pretty sure I got it," Ren was surprised to hear that. Then again not long ago he had seen Jaune studying hard back when he was ignoring everyone and hanging out with Cardin. "Pinging sir."

"Good job Jaune!" Bartholomew said genuinely impressed. "I see you have been listening. Explain what you mean by pinging."

"Well uhm, the enemy used sonar to find their targets. Pings tell everyone with sonar where you are but also show where the enemy is. Vale was used to fighting without sonar but the Atlesian royal fleet wasn't. They got close and pinged like crazy. It made so much noise that the enemy just saw a bunch of blobs on their screens."

"Precisely, but it only worked because of what two reasons?" Bartholomew asked looking for someone else to ask. "Ms. Belladonna?"

"Because it was foggy and Vale had a bigger fleet than Atlas."

"Wait a minute. You said the sides were even!" Cardin argued.

"They were Mr. Winchester. The Royals and the rebels were at a stalemate. This battle saw to the end of the war." Cardin was bad with history but he knew bits and pieces. Suddenly everything pieced together in his head because he had heard people talking about a battle where something happened. "The number of people who fought at Trafalgar was even on both sides but the number of ships certainly was not. Ms. Belladonna can you elaborate on your answer?" Oobleck requested as he refilled his coffee.

"Atlesian ships, like today, were large, slow, and depended on advance technology to know their way around," Blake explained earning an unhappy grumble from Weiss as she spoke ill of her countries military tech. "Because of the fog they couldn't see a thing and with the pinging strategy they had no way of getting through the fog. Vale's fleet was made up of a few hundred small ships, fishing boats and such. With the Atlesians confused it was easy to maneuver around their ships and defeat them with the use of boarding parties. A good hunter can defeat a crew of dust constructs any day."

"Spot on Blake!" Oobleck praised.

"Spot on," Weiss said to herself snottily.

"Weiss!"

"Yes Mr. I mean Professor Oobleck!" Weiss shouted, standing up at attention having been caught by her mentor. The other girls laughed at how stressed Weiss was acting in a classroom of all things.

"Sheesh woman calm down. Neptune joined this class halfway through the chapter and he doesn't look stressed at all."

"Just chilling sir," Neptune assured the professor. Neptune would never admit to it but he was a nerd at heart. He read about history for fun.

"Could you tell us what happened after the battle, Weiss. Being an Atlesian yourself I'm curious how things are taught back in your home."

"You mean, the Atlesian Revolution sir?"

"Everywhere else it's just called the end of the war but yes, that thing. Chop chop!"

"Well, after Vale and its allies defeated Atlas and overthrew their kings back home, the people in Atlas were no longer afraid of their ruler. He was the only one left and his army had drowned with his fleet. So, after years of tyranny and expressive censorship we overthrew him."

"Don't forget the countless beheadings of nobles Ms. Schnee," Oobleck reminded her.

"Urg, yeah that happened too," Weiss admitted. Atlesians liked to think themselves upper class even though they had over throne their nobility 80 years ago. The concept of their revolution being considered a blood bath was a nuisance to them. Though, it was the truth.

"And with that came an end to the war, the formation of the city councils, the appointment of new kings as figure heads, and the Vytal festival. Did we miss anything?"

"Professor?" Nora interrupted.

"Yes dear?"

"Did Professor Port really fight in the war?"

"Uhg, please tell me he didn't say that," Oobleck sighed a bit disappointed that his friend was so full of himself.

"Yep! That and that he single handedly courted every Atlesian girl in Mantle."

Now Oobleck was just annoyed of his colleague's bravado. To think he would stoop to lying to his own students. This was heresy to Bartholomew. History was meant to be passed down accurately not changed to boast one's ego. "Rest assured Ms. Valkyrie that if Peter was fighting the war or whooing anyone he was doing it from inside his father testic…"

"Bartholomew," said the wise but urgent voice of the school's head master, Ozpin, standing in the door way. "May I have some of your time?"

Bartholomew needed a moment to calm himself down before continuing his review.

"Yes yes you may," He sighed ", while I'm gone I want all of you to write down ten things you learned in class this semester that where taught incorrectly to you somewhere else. If you can't make all ten things something Professor Port told you then I have a feeling that you're either falling this class or his."

After that Oobleck zipped out of the room to speak with Ozpin.

"Guys, what do you think that was all about?" Ruby asked of her team since no one took the after class assignment Oobleck just described seriously.

"Seriously Ruby, just once can we stay out of Ozpin's and the city's business? At some point I need to find time to study."

"Yeah I think you guys and Sun have dragged us into enough trouble. Just let Ironwood handle the giant robots and Grim for a weekend." Neptune suggested.

"Thank you Neptune. In the end we didn't even stop Torchwick's plan. The grim still got downtown and the Atlesian army would have been there no matter what. Now, if we can put all this world saving stuff to rest for a few days I would like to not fail this test."

"But you have the highest grade in the class," Ruby tried to explain. "What's the worst that could happen if you get a B?"

"You mean a lower A?" Yang mumbled knowing that Weiss's grade was so high that even if she did fail this test she would probably keep her grade.

"My family, friends and colleagues are looking up to and depending on me to do well in school Ruby."

"Uh, I don't know about your family but we don't care," Yang added.

"What would they think if my GPA was second to one of you southerners?!"

"Uhg I forgot how proud Atlesians are," moaned Blake.

"We in Atlas are proud of both our knowledge and scientific creativity. We dedicate our lives to proper etiquette, artistic expression, and advanced research. If one of us were to slip up and fall second to a, well, less dedicated person," she said looking at the other girls but tipping her head to Yang ", imagine how it would look."

"Ok you little snow angel. Let's see how stuck up you are when I melt the icicle stuck up your…"

"Sorry kids. The headmaster and I were just talking about the big festival griffball game this weekend. Seems I'll be the referee for the event. I sure hope our team doesn't kill anyone this year." Oobleck joked, standing by Nora who was smashing peanuts on her desk rather violently before eating them. "Regardless of the festivities I hope you all continue to study tonight and leave all your festival related excitement for after the test. As a gift for coming after school tonight I'll go ahead and tell you what the essay question will be."

Everyone verbally moaned at this news since they were originally told the exam would only contain multiple choice questions.

"Stop your whining everyone. I'm letting you do almost anything you want on this one. All you have to do is write about one heroic event or group during the war. The only requirement is that the event must have been conducted by people not from your home Kingdom. For most of you that means people outside of vale but for anyone visiting for the vital festival or having transferred from another continent the rule still applies. For example I don't want an essay about the head rolling "revolution" from Ms. Schnee. Understood everyone?"

No one was happy about it but at least they knew about this ahead of time. No doubt this question was added to the exam because there were so many students visiting from abroad. All one had to do was ask about another's kingdom during the war.

"Let's do an example essay, shall we?" Oobleck asked of the class. "Anyone want to offer a story. For this practice let's pick a subject involving all four kingdoms. I'm sure everyone has one particular group that comes to mind."

At this hint everyone simultaneously thought the same answer, but one girl sitting with her friends in the back had an uncontrollable urge to answer as she waved her hand up in the air begging for attention.

"Yes, Ruby. Go ahead and Pick."

"Team WHAB!"

**About 80 Years Ago in the Cold Morning of Vale's Winter, a Few Miles from Vale's Walls in the Forest of Forever Fall.**

"Woody?" called out a young girl with long red hair as she walked up to a tall fellow chopping up the tree he brought down earlier. "Are you done yet? Surely you've cut down enough wood to make Erik happy. I doubt he needs a whole tree for you to make an axe."

"Sure you're right," the tall man wearing a read cloak said as he brushed his shoulder length hair, a similar shade to the young girl's, to the side ", but it takes more than a few pieces of wood to make a new table Rachel. Dad will be angry enough when he returns to see that his father's carpentry was burnt to a crisp. Even angrier when he hears his daughter was practicing with dust inside his wooden house. I have to at least make a new table to replace the one we lost."

Rachel pouted at the thought of her father coming home angry at her. She thought it was unfair. Mother used to use burn dust inside all the time to cook or do quick metal work. "What did you want me to do? I don't know any other way to light a fireplace."

"Uhm, I don't know sis." Woody teased. "You could light it the old fashion way. You don't have to slap dust on every little thing."

"I don't know how to light a fire the regular way. I would have asked you but you were out hunting with Erik again. I would have used a match but we were out so the only option was using dust."

"You could have gone into town and bought some matches." Woody suggested as he started to pack up his cutting equipment and tie the wood he chopped together.

"I didn't feel like it. You know how annoying those new guards are at the gate. They ask you all these weird questions. I swear, those Atlesian guys are depressingly strict. I hope they're not all like that."

"I don't think so sis." He replied throwing his bag of equipment on his back and lifting the bundle of wood. No doubt it would take two trips to get enough wood for the table but this was enough for him to start the new axe he promised his friend Erik. "I mean, Erik and his sister seem just fine."

"Lila and Erik don't count. They've been here in Vale so long they probably wouldn't remember what continent Atlas is in."

"A bit of a stretch but I see where you're coming from. Still if you do anything weird and you go through every day, I hear the new guards don't give you much trouble. At least not as much as a Faunus."

The Kingdom of Vale, if one could call it that anymore, was something of a mistake. A long time ago when humans were still trying to seek refuge from the Grim in any way they could, a group of Faunus founded a small village near the shore. It took some time but one day the first human settlers made their way to the Eastern reaches of Vytal. It was thought for centuries that there was no hope of living in the dense forests of eastern Vytal since from the shores one could see masses of Grimm going about. About a hundred and fifty years ago the Atlesians were running low on resources. The natural solution was to go find more. With one of the strongest militaries in the world they set foot on the shore of Vytal in hopes of finding rich new land. Being a bit jealous of their northern counterparts the kingdoms of Mistral and Vacuo followed suit for their own reasons. All three nations set up colonies around the area but without success. The deep forests and rugged terrain were perfect for Grimm to lay ambush. The days were turning dark for the new settlers as their numbers grew smaller and smaller and their nations became exhausted from failed attempts. For those left far from home there was little hope of help from their kingdoms. That's when the local Faunus revealed themselves. They feared humans but were more than willing to help someone in danger. Having heard that the distant kingdoms had left their people to die in their wilderness they saw it upon them to take them in.

What was once a small village was now a prosperous town secured by mountains and rivers alike. With such barriers only a few walls were required to keep out the Grimm. With a new home the newly inducted humans integrated themselves in society. Technology unknown to the local Faunus became common practice and it wasn't long until contact with the three kingdoms was made. Vale, having grown from a tiny village to a prosperous trade city now sat in the middle of the world as the center of diplomacy, and culture. Sadly their time as an independent state wouldn't last long.

"I don't see why the Atlesians have to stay here." complained the seven years younger and two feet shorter Rachel to her brother as she tried to keep up with his larger steps in the deep winter snow. "I mean, my teacher says we were handling things pretty well before their troops made a home here. It's not like we don't know how to fight a few Grimm."

"They're just afraid someone might try to hurt us." Her brother tried to explain though he knew where she was coming from.

"Like who. Everyone loves Vale. I ask my teacher why they're here now and he always gets so nervous about it." Rachel, though smarter than a lot of kids her age naïve. Such was expected from a fourteen year old girl who knew nothing but life under Atlas. To her the recent surge of Atlesian troops seemed like a lot, but to Woody and his father it was just another act of enforcement from a long string of events to further occupy Vale.

"Your teacher is probably just afraid that some of your classmate's parents will get mad if he says why."

"But he's a history teacher. Isn't telling us why things happened his job?" she asked dumbfounded.

The truth was that by law the professor wasn't allowed to talk ill of the Atlesian forces. Such acts could be mistaken as treason and have you sent to jail, or worse. It's for reasons like that for which no one spoke of the law. Many feared that if complaints amongst trusted friends or family were heard by a passerby that said person would report them for treason. Despite most citizen's anger towards Atlas there were still plenty of loyalists. Even though they were a minority of the city's population that didn't change the fact that they had an entire army willing to impose themselves on the rest.

"Well not everyone can do their job without getting in trouble anymore." Wood said under his breath.

"That's stupid," Rachel replied as her brother hopped there wasn't a hunter or other woodsman in the forest to hear their chatter. Though many of the others who lived outside the wall were against Atlas' actions, it didn't mean that they were completely trust worthy. Everyone's family came first and that was accepted out in the country. If the Atlesians came looking for a traitor and threatened someone's family then no one would look down on them for turning a neighbor in. No one would expect a neighbor to risk their kids or parents for them. So it was best just to keep quiet regarding such subjects. Though, for those too young or naive to know about such things there was always a chance that something would slip. "I think Atlas should just leave. I can tell that they make everyone unhappy and I wouldn't mind if Dad was able to stay home for a change."

"Rachel, what did Dad tell you about being mad at Atlas?" Her brother moaned.

"He says to not be mad and be happy that they protect us but he never tells me why. If neither of you tell me I'll never know why I should be quiet."

"We told you already. It's because it's dangerous."

"But why is it dangerous? What happens to all the people the soldiers take away?"

"The subject is really personal for dad Rachel. That's why he won't tell you."

"Then why won't you tell me?"

"Because Dad wants to tell you when the time is right Sis. I don't make a habit of disobeying Father so neither should you?" Woody tried to be assertive in his father's absence. Their father, Toman Holzfaller, was constantly being called into the city. As a talented carpenter and blacksmith, their father was commissioned by the local Atlas troops to produce new arms for the guard. He was often gone for months at a time so it was up to Woody to take care of his sister in the meantime. The job wasn't necessarily something the Atlesian military needed but rather a way of keeping their father under close watch.

"Is that when he'll tell me about Mom?" Rachel demanded. At that Woody didn't say a thing. This wasn't the first time Rachel asked about their mother and it wouldn't be the last. She'd grown used to the silence that followed the question but she had not lost her persistence.

The walk home was quiet. Life outside the walls usually grew as such in the winter. Wild animals tended to hibernate during the cold so the blood thirsty Grimm had nothing to torment. It's not that the grim hated animals as much as humans or that they needed them to eat. It was simply that they knew humans needed them to eat. That was enough for them to hunt. With the animals gone for the winter the Grimm tended to travel south for warmth in Vacuo. There they could pester animals with ease. Only a few would stay up here in Vale.

With the beasts gone the forest of Forever Fall was peaceful for the most part. This time of year was great for Grim hunting since the chances of getting swarmed but a large amount of them was small. Hunters from inside the city would leave in search of easy game to tell stories about. As for the assorted woodcutters and carpenters like the Holzfallers this was the perfect time to cut as much wood as possible without being attacked. It was the one time of the year where the Grim were the ones being hunted. With so many hunters out and about the woodsmen were free to work with plenty of protection. All they had to do was not go out to far and there would surely be someone nearby to help them.

As the two siblings approached their family's cabin, just a mile from the wall, they saw a group of young men in white and red cloaks in their yard around a small fire goofing around.

"Woody, we were wondering where you had gone?" A man about Woody's age called out, leaving the group of festive young men to dash towards his friend. "I haven't seen you in three months and you're not even home when I get here? You should be ashamed of yourself."

"I'm surprised you're even awake Erik. Can the alarm clocks even go off this early in the noble district?" Woody joked laying down the wood he gathered to hug his friend.

"You'd be surprised what the clocks can do up there. My neighbor even has one with no dials. It's just numbers! We live in enlightened times. Speaking of fancy gadgets, where's my new toy?"

"Depends, you bring anything yourself." Wood teased.

"Well of course I did. What kind of friend doesn't bring gifts for his country hunting buddy." Erik replied running to a bag he brought and pulling out a red cloth. "Just like you ordered, the thing has so much dust in it that it practically smells of the stuff."

"Ooh, what's that?" Rachel asked curiously earning the friend's attention.

"Oh sorry, it's nice to see you too Rachel. You're brother's horrible at putting dust in cloth so he wanted me to bring him some already made. I guess he deserves it since he's making my new hunting equipment and all."

"What does the cloth do Erik?" Rachel persisted trying to get a good look at it. The tall bleach blonde man in white smiled at how easily excited his friend's little sister still was. Woody on the other hand sighed, wondering if his sister would ever grow up. With father gone, her energetic personality was host to all sorts of trouble, burnt tables included.

"Haha, I don't know yet Rachel? He still has to make it into something." Erik laughed as he held the bundle of red cloth just out of Rachel's reach. He's received a letter a couple days ago arranging his arrival. In it Wood mentioned the table incident. Erik saw it best to keep dust away from the girl when possible.

"Now Rachel, leave my brother alone. If you keeping jumping on him like that the noble girls back home will get jealous." Said a soft voice emerging from the cabin.

"Lila!" Rachel shouted in surprise as she abandoned her struggle for the enchanted cloth to run to her and her brother's childhood friend. "Woody didn't tell me you were coming too!"

"Haha, he probably didn't want you to burn down the house in your excitement." The light purple haired woman joked as she hugged her younger friend.

Lila, Erik's eighteen year old little sister was the envy of most young girls in vale who knew here. Her long light purple hair was a sign of the purest of Atlesian bloodlines and it matched her just prominent pale northern skin. These two traits were not only the most desired in Atlas but a sign of her family's lineage. Never once had they married a foreigner and it was assumed they never would.

"Hey Lila." Wood shyly said. "Uhm how's it been."

"Ugh," groaned Erik, throwing the bundle of cloth at Wood. It was normal for men to faun over his sister and for the most part he had grown used to it since he knew none of those guys had a chance. It just annoyed him that his best friend was following their example.

"Oh I've been just fine Wood. Erik would never admit it but we've both been worried about you two. We hear it's hard to get in and out of the city now. Neither of you has visited in months."

"The guards never believe us when we say we're visiting friends in the noble district." Rachel complained. "They just tell me to go home or ask me all these weird questions"

At that Erik and Lila Huter looked at one another in shame. They had gotten here just fine and they knew the reason why.

"I'll be sure to tell all the guard posts from here to the mansion about you two. If they hear that the Martial's son's friends are being harassed I'm sure they'll think twice about bothering you two." A few years ago the Atlesians arrived and pretty much took over the city. They're new King was pretty militaristic and thought that all Atlesians should live under one flag. Since about a third of the city was Atlesian or at least related, that was enough of an excuse for him to send his army. Vale tried to fight back but gave up within a week. The other two Kingdoms didn't hear what happened until the Atlesian flag soared over Vale.

Erik and Lila's dad was put in charge of the towns guard. Despite being from Atlas he still expressed care for Vale's people. Though, the king often disagreed. Despite how much the Huter's tried they still had to follow the king's laws. That meant that Atlesian rights came first.

As the three talked, Wood couldn't help but notice there were more men than usual this season in the yard. "Hey Erik? Is it just me or did you make a lot of new friends this season?"

"Oh you mean the new guys? Nah they're just some of the new nobles that came last fall. You know us Atlesians love our hunting."

Again, it was normal for people to go hunting in the winter in Vale but to Atlesians it was the only real time to do so. They were used to know round year. To them vales winter was the only time to experience the hunt like they did back home.

"I was wondering why there were so many of you white cloaks this year?" Wood referred to the dust imbued cloaks the Atlesians wore in contrast to Vale's. Following Vale's occupation the hunters were required to wear cloaks outside the walls so that the guard wouldn't mistake them for fugitives. Back in Atlas it was fashionable to wear White. This made it hard for even Grimm to see you in the snow. Of course the law of the king needed a way to tell Valisien from Atlesian. So Vale hunters were demanded to where red cloaks, which were already worn by the woodsmen beyond the wall. Usually there was way more red than white in the hunting season but this year the numbers were oddly even. "I'm sure we'll still bring back more game than you guys."

"Haha sure you will. Now enough is enough. Where are my new toys?" Erik said quite demandingly.

"I only have you're knew crossbow," Wood sighed as he pulled it out of the work shed.

"What?! But where's the Axe? How am I supposed to hunt without one?" He groaned.

"I don't know? Shoot stuff. I asked for a dust imbued red cloak like your guy's white ones and all I got was cloth."

"Well I'm sorry. It takes forever to order this stuff. I didn't have time to get it cut into anything." Imbuing dust in clothing was harder than simply powdering it. It took experts, most of which lived in Atlas.

"Well I was busy fixing our living room." Wood said referring to Rachel's fiery incident the other day, earning an angry look as Lila chuckled. "I guess we can both blame dust for our problems."

At that he handed the elegantly crafted crossbow to his friend. The cross itself was thin and made with a mix of different woods from wither the Emerald forest or Forever Fall. As for the bow, it was metal, and resembled two sharp blades.

"What's with the bow on this thing?" Erik asked a bit puzzled by the design. "Wait…Oh my god don't tell it's like your bow!"

At this realization Erik jumped in glee. A true accomplishment given that he was rich. Very few things could excite him. In regards to the crossbow it shared one feature that was very similar to Wood's hunting bow.

"Here give it back. I wouldn't want you cutting your arm off on the first try," Wood demanded taking the crossbow back and loosening a clip near the back. The crossbow violently undid itself while the momentum of the reaction triggered a pulley which pulled the bladed close to the cross as firing grip turned into a handle. The end result was an oddly shaped but threatening looking sword. With the loosening of the pulley the sword undid itself again this time reforming into the crossbow.

"Thank you thank you thank you! Screw the axe. This is the best gift ever. I'll never use another weapon again!" Erik said in glee grabbing the crossbow from his talented friend. "What does it shoot?!"

"Uh? I don't know. Almost anything I guess. The sting is strong enough to shoot anything that fits in it…"

**Back in Oobleck's modern day History Class.**

"Ruby we're trying to write an essay on team WHAB," Oobleck interrupted. "I know you love weapons but is there a way we can avoid so much over fluffed detail?"

When it came to the subject of hand held weapons, early or modern, Ruby considered herself an expert. "But I haven't even got to Woody's bow! It's made of highly compact Forever wood in conjunction with a pure iron…"

"I'll take that as a no," Oobleck injected quickly. "Hmm, who else is a good story teller?" Oobleck repeatedly tapped his pencil on the podium as scanned the room for someone to ask next. "Ah! Ms. Schnee. Do us a favor and tell us about your countrymen, the Huters."

"The who?" Weiss said snottily.

"You can't be serious?" Blake said in disbelief.

"You don't know about Erik Huter?! The Bowman in white? The Sword of the Snow? You know, THE Huntsman?" Ruby demanded.

"Never heard of him or the rest of this team WHAB." This shocked everyone who new Weiss had the highest grade in the class.

"This seems to be a shocking turn of events." Oobleck commented. "Are you saying that to this day, Atlas doesn't speak of the most well-known and influential group of hunters known since the war?"

"I don't know. I was home schooled." Weiss admitted. Her family seemed to have a different view of the world then the rest of her country. Reassuring given her father.

"Well. We're surely not leaving this room until you do know of them." Oobleck promised, earning a sigh from the class.


End file.
